1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cages for birds and small animals. More particularly, the invention relates to a cage apron which is designed for a rectangular cage and which is attachable to the bottom of the cage to catch seed which falls from immediately outside the cage and which is easily removed for cleaning.
2. State of the Art
Birds and small animals are popular pets. Generally, these pets are housed in a wire mesh cage that can range in size from ten inches square, to cages having four to five foot sides. One problem associated with the use of these wire cages is that the enclosed animal has a tendency to scatter debris outside the perimeter of the cage. The floor area directly around the cage then becomes littered with food particles, bedding chips and other debris from inside the cage.
Prior art FIG. 1 illustrates one known solution to this problem. FIG. 1 illustrates a seed guard 10 that is attachable to a bird cage 12. The seed guard has a total of twelve parts; four elongate, flexible transparent seed guards 14, one for each side of a four-sided cage, and four corner pieces 16 of two parts each. Each corner piece 16 includes a horizontally disposed top part 18 that snap fittingly engages a cage corner bar and a bottom part 20 disposed about forty five degrees from the horizontal that also snap fittingly engages a cage corner bar; the two parts of each corner piece 16 snap fittingly engage each other away from the cage so that the free or leading ends of each corner member engage the same corner bar at vertically spaced locations. Each corner bar and the two parts secured thereto form a strong, triangular assembly that cannot be removed from the cage directly by a bird or indirectly by gravity acting on a swinging cage. While this seed guard may be effective in solving the problem of debris exiting the case, its complex construction makes it difficult to assemble and disassemble for cleaning.
Prior art FIG. 2 shows another solution to the problem. The apron 22 has four corner "locking members" 24 and four side "ratchet members" 26 which are ratcheted into the locking members for telescopically joining the members into a frame like structure for mounting on the cage 28. Each of the members is formed with an upper flanged edge 30 and an opposite lower support edge (not shown). The flanged edges of the two members align with each other into a locked relationship when the two members are telescopically joined. A plurality of removable tabs (not shown) extend outwardly from the support edge of the ratchet member for extending through the cage bars. While this cage apron is somewhat simpler than the earlier prior art solution, it is still relatively difficult for one person to assemble/disassemble the apron, particularly with a large cage.